About Claire
Claire is a modern quilt designer and teacher, based in Stratford Upon Avon in the UK.
Claire has always had a love for sewing which was reignited when her children were born and needed a creative outlet for herself. It wasn’t long before quilts were the only thing she wanted to sew.
In 2020, during the pandemic, when Claire was stuck between never ending on-line lessons with her kids home-schooling, she designed her first quilt pattern, the Retro Metro Quilt. It was a way she could still channel her creativity when life wouldn’t allow much time behind the sewing machine. Since then, Claire has immersed herself into the quilt designing world and has had her work featured in Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine and justhands-on.tv videos.
Claire’s designs are Inspired by modern geometric designs and repeated patterns – – wherever she finds them – – including toilet tiles and the front covers of books. Claire is the designer behind Made Just Sew. Click her to see her bright, colourful designs.
Though not formally educated in art or teaching, Claire has excelled as a quilting teacher – – winning the Big Janome Skill Share in 2021. What makes her unique is her passion for quilting and a passion for sharing what she has learned.
Click here to watch Claire share her Walking Foot Quilting techniques in an episode of The Makers Studio.
Keep up to date and follow Claire’s quilt journey over on Instagram @madejustsew
Signature Technique
Quilting with a Walking Foot
Top Tips
- Pick your backing fabric first, then match your front colours to your backing. This works really well for those of us who love colourful printed fabrics for our backing.
- If you’ve struggled with quilting, use the walking foot. It makes quilting so much easier.
- Don’t be afraid to quilt straight lines across your patchwork. It gives your project enhanced depth and texture.
- Marking quilting lines with a hera marker provides a useful guide for your straight line quilting.
- Don’t worry about mistakes. We all do it! Remember, you can always unpick stitches and come at it fresh tomorrow.
- Use quilting gloves to help you guide your quilt under the walking foot. The sticky tips of the glove give you a little extra grip.
- If you want your quilting to stand out, choose good quality colour thread to contrast the top. Colour thread can look dominating when on the spool, less so when on your quilt.
Videos
Posts
Subscriber Giveaway for Dec 2018 – Deborah Kemball Charmpack from Oakshott Fabrics (competition closed)
Sorry, the competition is now closed . The fabrics are available through the shop.
Quilting Retreat weekend Nov 2018 at the Warbrook Hotel, Eversley
A really fun time was had by these lovely ladies working with Jennie Rayment and Paula Doyle - Some of Jennie's class projects can be seen in the foreground fiddled and twiddled - and Paula's group worked on Easy Stack. If you give it a go, we promise the results will be amazing!
Woodland from Makower
This range of 16 fabrics shows charming woodland creatures tiptoeing silently through the forest and meadows. There are rabbits, deer and hedgehogs, plus co-ordinates with leave,s seed heads and floral prints. Valerie took the fabrics and to create this charming quilt using a pattern from Makower, designed by Lynne Goldsworthy a while ago. There is another free download pattern from Makower also designed by Lynne Goldsworthy to go with this range - here is the link to the free page which shows lots of patterns.